New journal on open, distance and digital education: a review

Welcome back!

What with Covid, post-Covid and AI mania, it’s been a challenging four and a half years for all in open, distance and especially digital learning, so I hope you all had or are having a well-deserved break this summer. 

What better way to start the new academic year than with a new journal for everyone working in this field.

The Journal of Open, Distance and Digital Education

This initiative is being led by Professor Olaf Zawacki-Richter of the University of Oldenberg in Germany, assisted by a widely international editorial board consisting of Dianne Conrad, Michael Kerres, Kyungmee Lee, Paul Prinsloo, Patricia J. Slagter van Tryon, and Junhong Xiao.

Why a new journal?

The editors state:

Open, Distance, and Digital Education (ODDE) is an overarching term for all kinds of learning and teaching processes in which educational technology, digital media, and tools are used to present and deliver content and to facilitate and support communication, interaction, collaboration, assessment, and evaluation. ODDE includes various practices, from technology-enhanced education to flipped learning and blended learning to fully online distance education. The term ODDE is comprised of open and distance education to clearly mark the historical origin of recent online education, and digital education to capture newer and emerging manifestations of teaching and learning in the digital transformation process of educational institutions.

There are of course many other journals dedicated to ODDE. However, the editors of JODDE argue that most of the other journals deal with ODDE at the micro level of higher education: issues related to instructional design, learner characteristics, or interaction and collaboration patterns in online learning settings. In contrast JODDE is open to articles primarily at the meso or macro levels of the whole range of ODDE in education and training.

Papers on micro-level practice, for example, evaluating the impact of single teaching and learning interventions without an institutional or system dimension, are not within the scope of JODDE.

Publishing principles

The journal operates on the following principles:

• JODDE is an open-access journal listed with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
• No publication fee is charged.
• A double-blind review is adopted. All submissions will be sent out for peer review by at least two reviewers if they are found to fall within the focus and scope of the journal in the initial editorial assessment. 
• Peer reviewers will make recommendations on whether the submissions are publishable. Nevertheless, the final decision rests with the Editor(s).
• Papers are accepted on a continuing basis and are published once formally accepted (rolling issues).

JODDE is established with the support and funding of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany. It is published by the Center for Open Education Research(COER) in the Institute of Education.

Review of the first edition

Volume 1, No.1 (the inaugural edition) came out recently and is available here.

There are three types of articles:

• critical reflections
• research articles
• interviews – Oral Histories and Engaged Perspectives.

Critical reflections

What’s in a name? Wrestling with ‘ODDE’.

It opens with a chapter by Mark Nichols, the current President of the International Council for Open and Distance Education, who, in short, does not believe the terms ‘open’, ‘digital’, and ‘distance’ adequately describe the changes that are happening in the field – he prefers ‘inclusive, scalable and sustainable’. (In the editorial, Zawacki-Richter offers a critique of Nichol’s critique.).

Frankly, such discussion easily descends into the category of how many angels can dance on the point of a pin. In terms of a new journal, there is surely space for a new one that deals with the current technology-influenced changes to education, and that also recognises the importance of inclusive, scalable and sustainable learning. In other words I am happy that the journal is called the Journal of Open, Distance and Digital Education. Nevertheless, at the same time, Nichols is right to be concerned that we don’t get locked into narrowly defined historical perspectives, and the the term ‘ODDE’ might result in the journal being ignored by those newly moving into this area. The failure to learn from past experience is a long-term and persistent problem in the field.

Leadership and digital learning

Ross Paul, a long-time expert in university leadership (and, full disclosure, a very good friend), provides an extremely well-written article about the challenges facing university presidents – both traditional and in open universities – as a result of the digital revolution. As he points out, this is but one element of the challenges, which include the use of social media, EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion), world events such as the Israel-Hamas war, Covid-19, an ever-widening range of goals for universities, and declining government support, both financially and moral. The result is a high turnover in senior leaders.

Unfortunately, as Paul points out ‘It is much easier to describe the myriad challenges facing today’s university leaders than it is to prescribe what needs to be done in response.’ He does however suggest seven key qualifications for a successful leader in such circumstances. (If you are thinking of becoming a university president, you need to read the article in full.)

At the same time, I’m thinking that university leadership has always been a challenge. It’s why university leaders are very well paid. What seems to have changed is the intensity of the challenges, combined recently with increased government interference, especially but not exclusively, in the USA. I doubt though that there will be no-one seeking such positions in the future, although they may not be the people needed. This article is definitely a good, thought-provoking read.

Quality lifelong learning for all

Diana Laurillard, of the UCL Knowledge Lab, London, UK, (and, full disclosure again, a former colleague many years ago) looks at the role that ODDE can and should be playing in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4, quality lifelong learning for all. She argues that, bluntly, ‘Conventional place-based education beyond school is not sufficient.’ In particular, she focuses on the ‘meso’ and ‘macro’ elements that could enable ODDE to meet the challenges of SDG 4.

She argues that while many traditional universities have the UN’s sustainable development goals in their mission statements, few meet the criteria in terms of outcomes or implementation. In particular she argues that ODDE provides practical and realistic means for even traditional universities to meet these goals. In particular she argues for a partnership between universities and the work sector to use ODDE, and in particular MOOCS, for developing lifelong professional development, with learning support, bringing university research together with the challenges being faced by professionals. She also suggests a need for a business plan that balances the very real costs of supporting professional development (even with MOOCs) with revenues generated by professionals and/or their employers. 

She concludes: Given the stagnation and regression in the journey so far, it is imperative to instill a sense of urgency about this discussion. ODDE has the potential to be equal to the challenge of the SDGs, but its power is limited to the human actors who populate its ecosystem.

Again, this is a very interesting read with some practical suggestions on a very significant challenge.

Digital policy for equity and openness

This article by four authors from the Commonwealth of Learning (Jyotsna Ja, Tony Mays, Venkataraman Balaji and Peter Scott examines the experiences of a selection of Commonwealth countries to support the building of a common framework of principles and policies that could make education systems more resilient, more open and more equitable.

They argue that Exploiting the openness inherent in digital technology with meaningful ‘open’ distance learning policies will be the way forward to assure quality in online and hybrid education..  … governments should build resilience into their education systems for the longer term by, among other things, putting ODL arrangements in place and supporting teachers better to cope with crises such as disruptions of campus-based provision.

They lay out a set of key questions to be asked when developing institutional and government policies and list four types of equity concerns for ODDE.

They point out that currently, in most countries, the policies and associated norms are very different for conventional and open systems, and largely remain non-cognizant of the shifts that have taken place in open approaches and their delivery, with implications for both the systems – this needs to change.

Overall, I found these critical reflections a major improvement on traditional research publications. They were issues-focused and dealt with policies and implementation, rather than the nitty-gritty of individual teaching and learning. However, that merely reflects my interests these days, but the critical reflections cover topics that are rarely discussed in other ODDE journals.

Research articles

Youth perspectives on higher education futures

In this paper, George Veletsianos and Shandell Houlden examine the under-explored perspective of Canadian youth aged 18-25 on design fiction futures. They designed three distinct scenarios describing higher education in 2033 to elicit feedback from youth. Specifically, they were interested in examining what futures youth found hopeful and what futures they found to be otherwise, and their reasons for this thinking.

You will need to read the article for yourself if you are interested in the different scenarios, but the research is an interesting exercise in examining the potential role of ODDE and social media in supporting different trajectories for higher education in the future. I found this paper extremely unusual and interesting.

Quality assurance and microcredentials

This paper by Mark Brown and Josep Duart reports the findings of an analysis of international quality standards, practices and supports for the QA of micro-credentials. There are three parts to the study: i) a global review of the external QA of micro-credentials; ii) a focus on the internal QA of micro-credentials at the institutional level; and iii) an effort to identify some of the supports available for the development of high-quality micro-credentials. If you are interested in the quality assurance of micro-credentials, this is a must-read paper.

Interviews: Oral histories and engaged perspectives

The interview section is a special feature of JODDE.  It serves as a repository of first hand accounts and personal narratives, capturing the lived experiences and perspectives of influential individuals within the field  of ODDE. In the first interview Kathryn Johnson interviews me. I discuss

• the origin of the UK OU, and why it failed to establish a presence in the USA,
• the impact of neo-liberalism on open education, and why we still need to see higher education as a public good
• the difference between Spanish/Mexican and Anglo-Saxon open university governance
• the origins of the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association
• the role of consultants in ODDE
• my views on theories of distance education
• the impact and importance of ODDE conferences for professional development

Future interviews are likely to be more interesting.

Do we need another ODDE journal?

Yes, we do. As Zawacki-Richter’s own research shows, most articles in existing ODDE journals focus heavily on the micro level, namely at the individual or class instructional level of learning. However, equally important for ODDE are the institutional and government policies and actions that lead to or inhibit ODDE, what Zawacki-Richter calls the meso and macro levels.

The first edition of JODDE targets these meso and macro areas. If the quality of the articles for this first edition can be matched in subsequent editions, JODDE could become a major influence in the development of ODDE world-wide. Make sure you leave a copy on the desk of your Provost or President.